Trump’s EPA Appoints Former DNR Secretary Who Left the Agency in Tatters

MADISON – In a damaging blow to Wisconsin’s – and its neighbors’ – environmental and public health, former Wisconsin DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp is now in charge of environmental protection for the entire Midwest.

As regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 5, Stepp will oversee all of the upper Midwest including Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio.

The news comes at a time when the Walker Administration, and many of its allies in the legislature, are rolling back crucial protections for the state’s environment and public health.

Executive Director Kerry Schumann had this to say:

“Before Cathy Stepp's appointment as secretary of the Wisconsin DNR, the agency was widely considered one of the best of its kind in the country. Under her watch, the agency’s environmental enforcement abilities were dismantled, its scientists kicked out, its website scrubbed of climate change information and, under the orders of the Walker Administration, she shifted its focus from protecting Wisconsin's natural resources to handing out favors to polluters. It makes sense the Trump EPA is looking for people like Cathy Stepp, people who are willing to sell out our environment to the highest bidder. The consequences will be stark. With environmental rollbacks like the Foxconn disaster, the pending removal of wetlands protections, and the elimination of all our air quality standards in the state, Wisconsin will also have fewer and fewer protections from the EPA to help maintain water we can drink, air we can breathe, land that doesn't flood, and its public health.”

You can follow legislation impacting natural resources on our Conservation Vote Tracker, a real-time accountability tool that provides you with a complete picture of what conservation issues are in play and how legislators are performing: http://conservationvoters.org/vote-tracker/